ADDICTED

I had always known Jenny to be a goal getter, focused and determined. She is not one who easily gets swayed by material things. She loves living well and comfortable- don’t get me wrong but she’s always satisfied with what she can get. Imagine my surprise when I saw her driving a jalopy car the last time I visited Lagos. I had engaged Ruby in an amebo during one of our girls’ outing while waiting for Jenny to start the car, as to why she could not have been patient enough to get herself a posh car knowing that she earns enough to afford one. Ruby smiled and told me her life had changed since she downloaded the Snapchat App.

This is really getting interesting. What has Snapchat got to do with a rickety old car? Ruby took her time to explain.

‘Imagine opening your Snapchat and seeing your friends dabbing and dancing to Ycee’s Jagaban and chopping mouth to Drake’s Hot Bling in their own or some rich boyfriend’s car. Viewing their snaps on Friday in their hot short dresses going clubbing and getting high on shisha and then coming back to their beautiful bedroom that is all pinky and beautiful on Saturday morning to get some rest.’

‘So?’

‘Well, she has to get that car she can afford so she can do snapvideos playing R n B on her way to and fro work.’

‘But the car is not even presentable!’

‘No one can know. You need to see the interiors, you will think it’s a G-Wagon she’s driving. And she now clubs almost every Friday.’
I could not believe my ears. We have been standing there for twenty minutes talking about her while she was still struggling to start the car. I never knew Jenny was one that could be easily pressurized into doing what she doesn’t do. I was disappointed. Little wonder I have often heard my friends talking about how they are going to disturb Instagram when they attend a birthday party.
After the incidence of Jenny, I sat down to reflect if social media is a distraction or a blessing to us.

So far, I am aware of a lot of social accounts but I am going to talk about the most common ones which 80% of every Nigerians uses.

FACEBOOK
This is so far the most common social media account I know almost every Nigerians have. Most people will tell you I do not facebook but consciously or unconsciously they have signed in the account at a point and have forgotten their password. Thereafter, forgotten they ever open one. When you enter their names on the search space, they are the ones that always come out without a profile picture and no news but with scanty personal details.
Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users create profile, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues.

During my days as an undergraduate, Facebook was the main thing. As far back as I can remember, there was no disguise on Facebook. Everything was always as it is. No pictures edit, no photoshop, no fake location. You can trace someone to his village with his Facebook profile and lifestyle. But these days, I am so amazed by the things I see on Facebook.

So many fake pages and groups, you do not even know which is real or not. Once I get to open my Facebook page, I get to see the ones who have just got their heart rendered into pieces by their relationship update – Complicated, In an open relationship – and I begin to wonder if this Social App is an avenue for getting comfort.

If I remember correctly, this application was meant to connect families, friends and well-wishers but then it has taken up the spot of a Curriculum Vitae of people as you can get updated with a man’s life by his Facebook account.

However, I see a lot of talent on Facebook. I see posts that get my attention, people expressing their views on issues, funny videos that keep me entertained, I see educative groups that keep you informed and I am like, well then, this is not bad afterall.

But then I stopped being active on Facebook the day my dad sent me a friend request! Just for jokes….I still am, I think…lols…

TWITTER
I vividly remember my first tweet I am Unstoppable.

Twitter is a free microblogging service that allows registered members broadcast their short posts called tweets.

Twitter for me is another life on its own. I had switched from Facebook to twitter and it had become an addiction. The retweeting feature made it more interesting and the fact that you can tweet anonymously with a name and picture made it all fun.

Twitter for me was a life of creativity because how can you tweets a meaningful string with 160 characters. There are some people who are just extra talented with writing. You read advice, quotes, random posts, funny questions, ridiculous questions and I’m awed by how much intelligent some peeps are.

The use of hashtags to keep up with topical issues is a beautiful feature I enjoy on this platform. Just by searching an hashtag, you get to follow up with issues and get latest updates on it.

The fact that you can always pick up a tweet from the last one was another interesting feature that caught me and got me entranced with twitter. You get to tweet links to longer posts.

When Instagram came into the picture, I abandoned twitter…Call me a social media adultress, I don’t mind. *tongueout*

LINKEDIN
LinkedIn according to WhatIs.com is a social networking site designed specifically for the business community. The goal of the site is to allow registered members establish and document networks of people they know and trust professionally.

Most people I know are not familiar with LinkedIn. Probably because it is a professional business account and I don’t know your business on LinkedIn if you are jobless. But then, there are ways you can present yourself, even without a current job that will get you a decent job. But people are more interested in displaying their new material acquisition than to add more skills to their lives.

I enjoy my LinkedIn account and I still do. I get connections to firm I cannot ordinarily walk in without a prior appointment. I also get to learn more about them and updates on the go just by following them.

INSTAGRAM
I remember reading a comment or post on Facebook one good day like that that says- If you are not fair skinned, change clothe like chameleon, drive a posh car or live on the Island, Instagram is not meant for you- I could not agree less with this comment.

If you are one who is easily influenced by what you see, it won’t take days before you start to feel the need to step up your game on Instagram either to gain cheap popularity or become Instafamous. This is however determined by the number of followers you have and the number of likes your pictures can get.

Seriously, this is crazy to me. A friend even gave me a gist of one instababe that goes from one boutique to another to buy good clothes, shoes and bags so as to have new stuffs to post on Instagram. At the end of the day she was indebted to lots of people, she had to relocate as she could not pay up her bills. I was stunned at the extent some people can go for followers and likes.

I remember reading a meme that says Girls will travel to Dubai for three days, take 300 pictures and keep posting it for 3months with location showing Dubai. Someone even went to the extent of saying these people will avoid contact with other people for these period just so they believe the pictures. And I was like WTF?!

I see people making money on Instagram. You see fashion designers, photographers, makeup artist, and models amongst others using these platforms to get themselves more customers.

The most amusing part is these guys that upload 15seconds funny pictures. That creativity baffles me. We all laugh when we watch those videos and even tag our friends so as not to miss out of the joke but these guys are making cool money.

I am still an Instaaddict anyways @nectar69.

SNAPCHAT
This is a new big deal for me mehn!

I remember deleting the app twice because of how complicated it was for me. And then, a friend mentioned it to me again and my addiction to it now is unbreakable. I call it Keeping up with Snappers. To me it is likened to a reality show of the snappers because I get to see real update of the snapper, how he spend his day, the food she eats, clothes he wears, places she visits, the kind of car he drives, the kind of song she listens to, the people he rolls with, where she works both in the pictures or videos he snapchat.

Some people actually do not mind giving out all these information just to keep their viewer entertained while some are very stingy with what they share. These ones make Snapchat boring.

Did I mentioned I watched the Headies Award the morning after on Snapchat? Yeah, live! I could not attend the show and I could not stay up to watch it on TV as well but trust my snapfamily, they snapped the view live and I was able to quickly connect with the YBNL-Mavin brouhaha.

One fascinating thing about snapchat is that your privacy can be controlled. You can see when people view your snaps and even screenshot it. And you can easily detect who follows and unfollows you. Isn’t that awesome?

But then, the negative effect still comes to play. Imagine what has become of Jenny my friend. Everybody wants to show off. Everyone wants to have something interesting to keep his viewer entertained and coming back. Can’t we just live in peace and stay real, ehn? This beats me.

Please do not download it if you do not have a free WiFi or enough data bundle. It is data consuming!

The negative effect of social media is quite disturbing. You find people comparing their own lives to the lives of their friends through their friend’s posts. People are motivated to portray themselves in a way that is appropriate to the situation and serves their best interest. Often the things we see online are positive aspects of people’s lives, which make other people question why their own lives are not as exciting or fulfilling. This can lead to depression and self-esteem issues.

And this makes me wonder if walking in another person’s shadow is worthy of the happiness you can create for yourself. Why instead of gloating and becoming a cyber-bully in the process, create a measure of happiness for yourself. Work on ways to use these social media apps to your own benefits. There are diverse ways to gain recognition, fame and money with them. I guess we would discuss this on our next post.